Page 116 of Mafia Toy

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, walking through the rain back the way we had come. “I should’ve been protecting you. This is my fault. I’m sorry.”

The more he apologized, the more tears streamed down my face. I wanted to go home. I wanted to be alone. But I feared that if I was truly alone, I would break down past the point of no return. I wouldn’t be able to function, wouldn’t forgive myself for what had happened to me.

So, I clutched on to him as tightly as I could and cried into his shoulder.

Nearly fifty minutes later, Riccardo stepped into the lobby of the apartment building. He ignored all the stares and headed straight for the elevator, not putting me down once. When we made it to my apartment, he walked into it and set me on the couch.

“I’m not going anywhere tonight,” he said. “Shower and clean yourself up. I’ll be here.”

But I could do none of that. Instead, I collapsed into his arms. “They’re going to leave me. I am now nothing to them. They have everything they need to finally become a family, and I have no one.”

73

laila

“You’ve been workingon your art gala this week, right?” Constantino asked over the phone while at work. One week had passed since the night that Dr. Lin had told me I was pregnant. “Because I was thinking that we should move it forward.”

“Why?” I asked, dressing for the first time in several days.

“You’re pregnant, and the cops are on our asses. They don’t have much, but we need to keep our name out of any bad business,” he said. “Hide our shit behind a charity, and we’ll be good.”

While I didn’t want to move the gala up, we didn’t have much of a choice.

“When are you thinking?” I asked.

“Next week.”

“Next week?!” I exclaimed, snapping on a necklace.

“Friday night. I’ve already scheduled the venue,” he said.

Someone knocked on our front door, and I hurried out of my closet to answer the door. “Um, sure. Let’s talk about it with Sage when you get home tonight. She’s here right now, so I have to go.”

After saying goodbye, I hung up the phone and opened the door. Sage had been more than distant lately, though I wasn’t sure why. I had tried to talk to her multiple times, but she only came up to the penthouse when I asked, and I couldn’t leave my bed that much while I healed my wounds.

Dr. Lin had put me on strict bedrest, especially now that I was pregnant. We had been waiting forever for this moment, and I didn’t want to chance anything. But I still wanted to see Sage. I hoped that she didn’t think we didn’t want her.

“Hi,” I said, smiling.

“Did you need me for something?” she asked, stepping into the apartment.

I placed my hand on my stomach and chewed on the inside of my cheek, nervous. “Do you want to shop for baby clothes with me?” I asked. “We can grab lunch afterward and do some shopping for ourselves. My treat.”

“Um …” she whispered, not meeting gazes with me. “No thanks.”

“Please,” I asked, sounding desperate as hell now.

While I could’ve ordered her to shop with me through our contract, I refused to order Sage to do anything with me anymore. It felt so wrong, so deceitful. I loved her and wanted her to come with me because she wanted to spend time with me. Not because I forced her.

“I’m not really feeling like it,” she said, still turned away from me.

My stomach dropped, and I nodded. “Okay.”

I wanted to share these special moments with her, but she didn’t have any interest.

“Is that all?” she asked.

“Yes …” I whispered, trying not to seemtoodisappointed.

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